Any guy who's an All American and Top 5 Pick in the Draft has to be taken seriously. Sure there's been busts over the years (see Ellison, Pervis) but someone as young as Shelden Williams and who works as hard as Shelden Williams, is a no-brainer to take a chance on. So many lottery picks obviously end up on poor teams and some of these teams want them to be the franchise player immediately. Others have the luxury of coming into a winning environment and contributing in their own way (see Davis, Big Baby).

When the Celts signed Williams this summer I was all for it. Think about a bigger, more athletic version of Leon Powe. That's the potential Williams has. Sure he didn't exactly turn heads in Atlanta or Sacramento but I'm confident that you get him in a locker room with guys like Wallace and Garnett, and it'll be tough for him not to stay motivated.

If it turns out right and Shelden maximizes his potential, he could turn out to be the power forward to replace Garnett and Wallace in a few seasons. If it doesn't work out it was definitely worth the risk. Remember Carlos Boozer was a second round pick from Duke who also plays power forward and he's turned out to be pretty good. Let's give Williams a shot and see what he can do. It's a long season, players get injured and older players need rest. Maybe sometime in February Perkins will be out for a couple of games because of his shoulder and Garnett's taking a precautionary break. At least you know if you play Williams you won't have 2 undersized guys going in at center (Davis and Powe).

Give this guy a chance. In my opinion this certainly has a much bigger upside than Patrick O'Bryant.